On December 10^th, the twins woke up before dawn and prepared their luggage. Not that there had been much to pack: Even after purchasing suitcases from a late-night store and filling them with the majority of their possessions, they remained woefully empty and questionably light.

“Whatever. That’s just less we have to drag across the city,” Kouichi muttered, as she single-handedly carried her suitcase through the near-empty streets of Seoul.

“We can always say we packed lightly to make room for souvenirs,” Yui added, as she rolled hers behind her. She adjusted her tote bag and checked her watch for the time. “We’re going to be a few minutes early.”

“Why do you make it sound like a bad thing?”

Yui shrugged, thinking about last night. She had never confronted a person and then crossed paths with them a second time. And now, they were going to see Siwon again, only a few hours after their acrimonious parting .What was the proper way to greet him in this kind of situation? What must the other members think of them now, she wondered a bit numbly, and why, of all times, did this have to happen the night before they were to embark on their two-month long-stay in Japan?

By the time the twins got to the dorm, the vans were already out and the members were in the process of bringing down their luggage and loading the vehicles. Yui gaped a bit as a particularly tall male carrying two large suitcases promptly deposited them into the trunk of one of the vans.

“I still have a few more items to bring in,” he said in slightly accented Korean to one of the managers, who merely grunted.

“Save some space for the others, Zhou Mi-sshi, eh?”

“Excuse me,” Yui said politely as he was passing her. “Um, do you work for Super Junior, too?”

The man blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”

“What my sister means is—who are you?” Kouichi clarified, with equal blunt confusion.

He stared. “I should be asking you that.”

“Kouichi-yah, Yui-yah!” Both twins turned at the sound of Sungmin’s voice as he walked over to them, rolling his suitcase behind him. “You’re here!”

Yui blinked at the suffix; she still wasn’t used to hearing it. Then she registered the familiarity it encoded and realized that they were at least still on friendly terms. Could it be Siwon hadn’t told them yet…?

“Hyung,” Kouichi now grinned, giving him a high five as he came up. “Hey. It’s good to see you again.” Yui noticed the new easygoing attitude with which her sister greeted him. It was a change from her usual standard speech towards the members, which had often sounded as if she had forgotten to filter it through her brain first.

Sungmin chuckled as he loaded his luggage. “Likewise.”

“Yah, Sungmin-ah!” Kyuhyun shouted, running down the steps, waving something small and black in one hand, while holding a white can of sorts with the other. “You forgot to pack your razor and shaving cream, you idiot!” Then he saw the twins.

Yui reddened, realizing he was holding male personal hygiene items.

“Moron,” Sungmin muttered, grabbing the items quickly and stuffing them into a side zipper in his suitcase. “We have ladies in our company!”

“Interesting,” Kouichi commented. “So even idols shave.”

“Of course w—” Kyuhyun began, but then he seemed to think better of it. “Never mind.”

“I take it you don’t have any brothers,” Sungmin laughed.

Yui froze.

“No,” Kouichi answered quietly, after a pause. “We don’t.”

“Say, where did Zhou Mi-hyung go?” Kyuhyun asked, trying to dissipate the sudden silence. “Wasn’t he just here?”

“Probably grabbing his fourth suitcase,” Sungmin guessed, turning around. “Hey, Siwon just arrived.”

Unable to stop herself, Yui looked over as well. A taxi had pulled up, and as Siwon stepped out of the passenger seat and walked over to the trunk the grab his luggage, next to her Yui felt Kouichi stiffen as well.

“Good morning,” Siwon said cheerfully, as walked over after bidding the taxi driver good-bye. “Another beautiful day.” He glanced over at the twins, meeting their eyes. “Good morning, senseis.”

“Good morning, Siwon-sshi,” Yui said formally.

“Morning,” Kouichi muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Sungmin and Kyuhyun stared, unsure how to react to the sudden usage of the deferential form. “Uh, you know that MaSi doesn’t have to be addressed that politely, right?” Kyuhyun joked. “I’m pretty sure he’d be perfectly comfortable with you using banmal.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Yui said, giving them a small smile.

“Are all the members ready yet?” Seunghwan the manager called out. “We’re supposed to leave in five!”

“Ryeowook will be down in two,” Leeteuk panted, as he emerged from the entrance. He saw the twins and gave them a harried wave. “Hey, glad to see you’ve made it.” Yui noticed that he looked exhausted. With his make-up undone, the dark rings under his eyes were clearly visible and he looked many years older than he really was.

“Are you okay?” Even Kouichi was shocked into concern.

“Fine, fine, this is how I normally look,” he said, ushering the other members into one of the vans. “The make-up just hides it all. After you.”

Yui climbed into the van after Kyuhyun, as Ryeowook came stumbling out of the building. “Where are all the make-up stylists?”

“Staff will be taking separate vans and flights,” Sungmin informed her, as she plopped down behind him. “So we don’t overrun the airport.”

“Yeah, only the managers ride with us,” Eunhyuk added, twisting his body two rows ahead of her to look back. “Who told you guys to come so early?”

“Wait, do you mean we could’ve slept in?” Kouichi demanded, as she sat down next to Yui. Then Ryeowook collapsed into the seat next to her and she grinned. “Not that I mind.”

“Good,” Kyuhyun yawned, as the driver started up the engines. “Because one of us specifically asked for you.”

It took Yui a moment to process the statement. By the time it occurred to her to ask for a clarification, he had already tilted his head and was sound asleep.

“Wait,” Kouichi suddenly muttered. “What did he mean by that?”

“Luxurious,” Yui commented as they walked down the aisles. “I had forgotten how fancy first class traveled.”

“You’ve traveled first class before?” Sungmin asked, as he walked behind her. “Stop here; our seats are from rows 3A-13B.”

“Yeah, when we were younger, we would always—” Then she stopped, remembering. “I mean, I guess I’ll sit here.”

“Kouichi-ah, do you want the window seat?” Sungmin turned behind him, where Kouichi was adjusting her bag straps.

“Huh? Uh, I prefer aisle,” she said distractedly, also glancing behind her.

“Over here,” Sungmin laughed as he took a seat behind Yui. “You’re going too far.” As Kouichi obediently plopped herself down next to him, Siwon paused next to Yui. “Can I sit here?”

“Sure,” she yawned, not quite paying attention. And then she registered what she just agreed to and blinked, horrified.

As the other members settled around them, she heard Kouichi rustling behind her.

“We really did take up pretty much the whole entire first class section,” she remarked in response to Yui’s glance. “Um, have you seen Ryeowook-hyung?”

“He’s sitting two rows behind us.” Yui suppressed a grin, though upon catching Siwon’s eyes, her internal smile disappeared. She dropped back down to her seat and busied herself with the in-flight safety instructions.

“I won’t allow you to hurt Ryeowook,” he said quietly, staring at the novel in his hands. If Yui wanted to delude herself, she could have pretended he was merely reading out loud.

“Of course,” she agreed softly, staring at the instructions written in German. She made a mental note to learn the language someday. It might come in useful. “We understand.”

“I haven’t said anything to the members yet,” Siwon continued, as he flipped a page.

“We’re grateful.”

“But that doesn’t mean I will keep the things a secret forever. I want you to be aware of that.”

“I know.”

“I would like it if you two came clean of your own accord, rather than to have the truth revealed involuntarily.”

“I can’t promise that, Siwon-sshi.”

“You don’t trust us? After everything we’ve shown you?”

Yui finally put down the pamphlet and looked up. He was staring at her in the eyes. “It’s not that simple, Siwon-sshi. Not everything in life can be that straightforward.” She gave a wry smile. “No offense to your title song.”

He offered her the tiniest of smiles. “We just debuted that song in Japan a few days ago. Better get used to it, because you’ll be hearing it a lot.”

She allowed herself a small laugh, appreciating his lighter attitude. “Siwon-sshi…” She took a breath. “Really, I do wish—I mean, I do want to—” To tell you everything. He looked at her, waiting. “Someday,” she finally said. “Someday, we’ll tell you. Okay?”

He nodded slowly and then looked away. “But until then…”

The implication was clear. Until then, things couldn’t be the same as before.

At the arrival gate, the girls were greeted with the unexpected sight of the large among of teenaged girls clamoring at the entrance. Some were carrying signs or towels; others had cameras. A few were screaming and attempting to claw at the crowd of exiting passengers, while the airport security tried to restrain them. Most of the noise and attention was being directed up ahead, though a few who had missed Super Junior’s earlier entrance had their cameras pointed hopefully at the arrival gate. Instinctively, Yui ducked, while next to her Kouichi pulled her cap low.

Suddenly, they became painfully aware of why the members had busied themselves with covering their faces moments before departing from the plane. At the managers’ request, the twins had also been told to walk about ten meters behind the members, as to not attract undesirable attention.

“Seriously?” Kouichi hissed, as they passed by a particularly loud fan holding a giant neon sign. “You know, sometimes I feel like those fans are scarier than the mafia.”

Yui grunted, thinking about her latest encounter with the latter. “Well that’s debatable, but I definitely see your point.”

The group finally cleared the media and entered the parking lot, where two vans with tinted windows already sat waiting for them.

Yui sighed and rubbed her eyes, having been unable to sleep comfortably on the plane. Next to her, Kouichi, who apparently didn’t have this problem, breathed in deeply and spun in a small circle. “It’s good to be back in Japan,” she exclaimed happily. “Ryeowook-hyung, do you know where we’ll be living?”

Yui heard Ryeowook chuckle. “All I know is that we’ll be living in Osaka, since that’s where Super Show 4 is taking place.” 

“Do you think we’ll be living close to each other?” her sister asked hopefully.

“Guess we’ll see.” This time, it was Siwon who answered. As Kouichi raised her eyebrows, Yui closed in and touched her shoulder. “We have to talk,” she whispered, before everybody was ushered into the vans.

“Okay, so this is where Super Junior will be staying,” Seunghwan the manager said, as the first van pulled into a high-rise apartment complex. He turned off the engines and pulled out a sheet of paper and a box filled with pre-paid cellphones. “Everybody get out and take a cellphone, while I find out exactly which floor we live on...”

“Let’s exchange numbers,” Ryeowook whispered excitedly to the twins. Yui laughed at Kouichi’s eager nod.

As the members gathered their belongings and began the trek into their new home of the next two months, the twins approached him. “Um, do you know where we’re living?” Kouichi asked bluntly.

“Same building, different floor,” the manager responded distractedly, casting a look at their surroundings. Around them, groups or giggling girls had already gathered. “Looks like the fans already found us…”

As some of the girls whispered and fiddled with their cameras, Yui lifted her scarf a bit further higher till it covered half her face. She didn’t like the way some of Super Junior’s fans were staring at her.

Her relief upon entering the apartment complex was only short-lived.

“Um, I’m sorry,” the receptionist said, looking at the assembled group. “But we don’t have any incoming tenants by the name of Tokudaiji listed in our records.”

The manager groaned. “Then where are they supposed to live?”

“We’re very sorry,” the receptionist apologized again. “We’ll try to clear this up as soon as possible…”

Another manager looked at his watch. “The members are supposed to be at the Kyocera Dome in an hour. I’m sorry, but we really have to move in and get going—”

Which is how half an hour later, the twins found themselves in the middle of a furnished room on the 12^th floor of the apartment building, ankle-deep in a sea of boys’ luggage.

“We’re really sorry about this,” Donghae said as Leeteuk ushered Shindong and Kyuhyun towards the entry hall. “We’ll come back later to unpack.”

“Do you guys want to watch us rehearse?” Yesung asked.

Yui stifled a yawn, and even Kouichi looked longingly towards the bedrooms. “Honestly, we’d love to, but—”

“You’ll be okay by yourselves, right?” Sungmin asked anxiously. “The stylist noonas should be coming in within an hour or two; they can keep you two company until it’s time for the concert—”

“Hopefully, the whole housing situation will be resolved by then—”

“Yeah, in the meantime, you guys can stay here; we don’t mind—”

“Well, it’s not like they have a choice—”

“GUYS,” hollered Leeteuk, “we have to go, NOW!”

“Bye!” Yui waved. “Have fun!” Behind her, Kouichi’s curse was hidden in the ensuing crash as she tripped over several people’s luggage.

Finally, the apartment was quiet. The twins looked at each other, and then through an unspoken agreement, tentatively began exploring.

“It’s okay to look around, right?” Yui murmured, as she carefully lifted her feet over yet another extraneous piece of luggage.

“Why not?” Kouichi replied. “Technically, they don’t own this place any more than we do.”

Both paused for a moment to appreciate their surroundings. Due to the special circumstances of the lease, their Osaka residence already came pre-furnished and cleaned. Upon opening a closet of linens and cloths, Yui had just begun to cover the dining table when she heard the front door lock click again.

“Sorry,” Leeteuk panted as he dashed back in, not even bothering to remove his shoes. “Eunhyuk forgot to bring another pair of clean socks—”

As he hurried past Yui, she heard Kouichi gasp from the other room.

“Is that…a real bed?”

Yui and Leeteuk entered one of the bedrooms, where Kouichi was dazedly staring at an uncovered mattress. Yui’s eyes widened.

“Um, yes?” Leeteuk asked.

Both watched as Kouichi broke her trance and took a running leap onto the bed, diving headfirst and curling up into a ball.

“Wait,” Leeteuk spluttered, “we haven’t even put the sheets on it yet—”

“Are there pillows, too?” Yui asked eagerly. Without waiting for an answer, she then wasted no time in jumping onto the bed to join her already sleeping sister.

It was the soft murmur of voices that eventually woke her up. Rather than the noisy cars and buses as their tires screeched to sudden halts, the loud voices of the pedestrians as they carried public conversations on their cell-phones, or the occasional yipping dog that dragged its owner out for its daily walk around the block, the world was silent. For the first night in weeks, Yui slept on, undisturbed, till eventually her body finally felt rested enough to attend to the minute sounds of the world around her.

Yui opened her eyes and blinked at the darkness. Next to her under the warm quilt, Kouichi stirred and squirmed in her sleep.

Wait. Quilt?

There was muted laughter coming from the living room, followed by the faintest chinking sounds of glass. Kouichi groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

“What time is it?”

Yui opened the bedroom door and both slowly walked down the hallway, unused to the sudden light. Following the sounds of the voices and light cachinnation, they arrived at the living room.

 Sungmin was the first to notice them. “Hey, senseis finally woke up!” he called, walking over to them for a playful punch on the shoulder.

“I can’t believe you two actually slept the whole day,” Ryeowook chuckled. “Did you not sleep the night before or something?”

Yui mumbled something noncommittally while Kouichi glanced at the clock on the wall. “Yeah, it had been a while since we last slept on a—whoa, it’s already midnight?!”

“You should’ve seen them,” Leeteuk was telling Eunhyuk. “Earlier, when I came back to get you your socks—“

“Yeah, try not to forget again, tomorrow, Hyukjae—”

“—she acted like she had never seen a bed before.”  Leeteuk finished his anecdote with a sideways grin at Kouichi. “And then Yui-sensei followed suit. It was kind of endearing.”

“I still remember those days,” Kyuhyun laughed, rubbing his eyes at the memory. “So I don’t blame you two one bit.”

“Who covered us with the quilt?” Yui asked.

“Sungmin-hyung,” Kyuhyun answered promptly. “You guys took his bed.”

 “Again?” Kouichi asked. “Seriously?”

Siwon raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean, ‘again’?”

“Sorry,” Yui mumbled, rubbing her hand on her cheek to stop her spreading blush.

“Well, to be fair,” Kouichi said practically, “you guys hadn’t unpacked yet and the beds hadn’t been assigned yet, so—”

“That’s beside the point,” Sungmin objected, and the group laughed. “We assigned beds at the concert.”

“Speaking of which,” Yui said quickly, “shouldn’t you guys be preparing for that right now?” And then Sungmin’s words sank in. “Hang on—you mean—”

“It already ended,” Kyuhyun said wryly, as he took a sip of wine. “The first day, at any rate.”

“You guys missed our concert!” Ryeowook pouted. “And we had saved seats for you, too!”

“You pouted!” Kouichi giggled. “You should do it more often.” And then she seemed to register the actual content of his words and her face fell. “Wait, what? Really…?”

Leeteuk was staring at her. “Did you just giggle?”

“We’re so sorry,” Yui apologized again. And really, she was. “Is there any way we can make it up to you guys?”

“Well, you can start by attending the second day,” Kyuhyun said in a mock-scolding voice, as he handed over a pair of tickets. “VIP seats. Do you think you can put these to good use?”

Yui accepted them with a mock-bow. “Of course. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She was rewarded with a warm smile, which unexpectedly caused her heart to lift.

Two unfamiliar males now approached them. Yui recognized the taller one from earlier that morning—what had been his name again?

“So, I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves yet,” the slightly shorter one said. He stretched out his hand, but then seemed to remember something and retracted it, quickly tilting his head in a small bow. “My name’s Henry Lau, but you can just call me Henry.”

Something about his Korean and mannerisms seemed a bit off. “Are you foreign-born?” Yui asked, after introducing herself.

“I’m Canadian-Taiwanese,” he replied with a grin, and Yui smiled. Due to her own brief stay in the latter country, she had a somewhat strong affiliation with it, and wasted no time in pointing it out.

Meanwhile, Kouichi had started talking to the other member. “My name is Tokudaiji Kouichi; what’s yours?”

“Zhou Mi,” the taller man answered with a half-smile and raised eyebrows, apparently amused by her boldness. “Nice to meet you. You don’t sound Korean, either.”

“You’re from China? You speak Chinese?” Kouichi asked in Chinese, and the man grinned. “Yes.”

“Awesome,” Kouichi struck out her hand. “Then I won’t call you ‘hyung,’ then.”

Zhou Mi shook his head as he smiled. “You’re not supposed to, anyway.” He shook her hand.

Yui was impressed. “You didn’t mistake her for a boy.”

“No,” Zhou Mi acknowledged, “her mannerisms and style of dress are very girlish.”

Leeteuk cleared his throat; it sounded like a snicker.

Kouichi glared at him. “Why are you still here? Go away!” As she shoved Leeteuk aside, Yui saw Sungmin give Kouichi a weird look.

“Say,” Henry whispered to Yui in Chinese, “Does your sister have a thing for Ryeowook-hyung?”

“Err,” Yui said awkwardly, not completely sure how to reply. Though they had just met, she was starting to suspect she liked Henry’s personality. He was very forward and honest.

In response, he just laughed. “It was the way her eyes widened after he pulled his aegyo on her. I’ve never seen someone wake up so fast.”

Yui smiled and chose to change the topic. “Are you two regular members who temporarily went on hiatus, too?” As she spoke, Heechul flashed across her mind. “I haven’t seen you guys before.”

“Oh, we’re part of the sub-group, Super Junior M.” As Henry explained the details, Yui found herself realizing, not for the first time, just how little she knew about her students. “—you didn’t know?”

“Huh?” Lost in her own thoughts, she had temporarily spaced out.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Henry laughed. “It’s just that the first time I saw you at the practice room, I had thought you were one of the members’ girlfriends or something.”

“At the practice—?” Yui thought back. Henry had been there?

Henry was watching her reactions with amusement. “Yeah, we had sang and danced to ‘Perfection’ and ‘Destiny.’ You’ll see tomorrow,” he added, upon seeing her face. “Man, how did S.M. Entertainment find you two? I’ve never seen teenaged girls working with Super Junior so clueless about them before.”

“Is that a bad thing?” It almost like seemed all the members had commented about that at some point during their acquaintanceship.

“Not at all,” Henry grinned. “It means you’re genuine.”

Genuine, huh. “Interesting word choice there, Henry, uh…”

“Just ‘Henry’ is fine.” He looked her over. “Wait a sec, could you two possibly be younger than me?”

“I’m almost twenty,” Yui supplied. For some reason, telling this almost complete stranger her basic information suddenly felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Ah, so you and your sister are the magnaes of the group, then.” He sighed loudly. “After I worked so hard to steal that title from Kyuhyun, too…”

“I heard my name,” Kyuhyun interjected from the side. “You said Gui Xian, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, hyung, we were just making fun of you,” Henry said seriously in Korean. “I was just telling her about how you used to snore all the time when we had to live together during ‘Perfection’ promotions.”

“Wha—? Yah!”

“It’s fun trolling him, isn’t it?” Henry whispered to Yui, who had to quickly rearrange the features of her face to hide her smirk. “I had to sit with him on the plane. The time he wasn’t playing games on his phone he was harassing the members who sat around him. You have no idea.”

  Yui burst out laughing. Shy, polite Kyuhyun? “Somehow, I don’t think I see it…”

“Yeah, he’ll show that side of him once he gets to know you,” Henry continued in Chinese, clearly much to Kyuhyun’s annoyance.

“Yah, are you still talking about me? Stop spreading baseless rumors before I tell her about the time you—”

“Yeah, anyway, it was nice meeting you,” Henry said quickly, giving Yui a wink. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Y-yeah…”

 Yui and Kyuhyun watched as Henry walked over to the other side of the room, whistling a merry tune. Kyuhyun took another sip of his wine and looked sideways at Yui.

“He didn’t say anything bad about me, did he?”

Yui smiled. “Are you really worried?”

“No,” he said quickly, as the tips of his ears turned red. “Of course not.”

Yui laughed, noticing. “He really didn’t.”

“Kyuhyun-hyung, are you drunk? Your ears are red,” Kouichi commented. Zhou Mi had already walked away to fetch a cup of water. As Kyuhyun gave her a flustered reply, Yui’s attention was diverted to one of the managers.

“Your apartment is all set,” he said. “Eighth floor, apartment forty-two. Here are your keys.”

Yui thanked him as she took the keys. “We have our own apartment?”

The manager nodded. “The other staff are also all scattered all over the building. Your apartment is a bit small, but since it’s just you and your sister, hopefully you don’t mind…”

It was only until after he walked away did the impact of his words hit Yui. She clutched the keys, dazed.

“Are you okay?” Yesung asked her, poking her philtrum. “You look a bit shell-shocked.”

“Fine,” she said faintly. “I’m fine. Kouichi—Kouichi-ah!” she called, turning around. Kouichi tore her eyes from Ryeowook drinking another glass of wine and looked over. “Kouichi-ah…we have keys.”

“Huh?”

“House keys,” Yui whispered, trying to tone down her excitement. “House keys! We have a place to live!”

Kouichi’s mouth dropped open and for a moment, both just stared at each other in silence, absorbing the new feelings.

“Congratulations!” Sungmin laughed, misunderstanding the true meaning of their happiness. “I take it you don’t need my bed anymore?”

“No!” Kouichi said too quickly, turning red. “It was an accident! I wouldn’t have slept there if I knew it was your bed!”

“Was it comfortable at least?” Ryeowook asked as he came over. He grinned. “You didn’t have to deal with Sungmin-hyung’s smell.”

“Yah! What’s that supposed to mean?” Sungmin whacked his head. “I do not smell!”

“Yes, you have a very special smell,” Ryeowook countered him. “We already discussed this on Sukira.”

“I agree,” Kyuhyun added. “But it’s a nice smell,” he added mischievously.

Sungmin was blushing. He glanced at Kouichi. “Guys, talk about something else!”

Kouichi stepped over and took a whiff. “I don’t smell anything.”

“You were on Sukira?” Yui asked, trying not to laugh at Sungmin’s expression as his face turned a darker shade of red.

“Oh, we didn’t tell you? We’re the official DJs now.” Ryeowook wrapped his arms around Sungmin’s shoulders and gave him an affectionate squeeze. “We took over on the 4^th.”

Yui smiled at the gesture of friendship. “But what happened to Leeteuk-sshi and Eunhyuk-sshi?”

“Oh, they’re still around.” Ryeowook waved his hand in the general direction of the room, where Leeteuk was now standing up and stretching. “But their schedules were getting too hectic, so Sungmin-hyung and I decided to step up and take their role. We wanted to keep Sukira a Super Junior thing, you see.”

“Okay, guys,” Leeteuk now called out, addressing the whole room, “Great job on tonight’s concert! It was a success. But before we go completely all-out with our celebrations, let’s remember that we still have one more performance tomorrow. So everybody should sleep early and rest well tonight. Tomorrow, let’s give our Japanese ELFs another great performance, yeah?” His announcement was met with cheers.

As the room’s occupants began getting up and gathering their things, Yui looked over to her sister. “Ready to go to our apartment?”

“Our apartment. Our apartment.” Kouichi repeated the words with a smile. “I really like the sound of that.” She took one of the keys from Yui. “I’ve been waiting for this moment forever.”

“First beds, now apartments,” Yui laughed as the two bid good-bye to the members and headed for the elevators. “Our lives have gotten so much better since we got this job.”

At that, Kouichi sobered up a little. “But let’s not forget our true mission,” she said seriously.

Both waited patiently as the elevator dinged.

“No,” Yui agreed. “Let’s not.”

 Later that night, after the twins had climbed into their bed—their very own bed!—and turned off the lights, Yui laid awake, thinking about the day’s events. Suddenly, her phone vibrated with a text; seconds later, Kouichi’s followed suit. Yui picked up her phone as next to her, Kouichi groggily rolled over and did the same.

“You’ll remember to come, right? Don’t oversleep! See you at the concert venue~ Good night and sleep well^^ —Kyuhyun.” He had used to phrase jal ja, something Yui had learned he was rather popular for on variety shows. 

“Sungmin-hyung, so cute,” Kouichi yawned, putting the phone down and closing her eyes. But before her cell-phone light disappeared, Yui caught the small smile that had formed on her sister’s lips. She turned back and reread her message again.

In the near-darkness, with the soft glow of her cell-phone as her only source of physical light, Yui found herself smiling, too.

“Good night to you, too, Kyuhyun-sshi…”

A/N (130330.Saturday): So sorry for the delay! As promised, I've finally reorganized the chapters so hopefully from now on, they'll read more like actual chapters and less like...random scene changes. This update is actually longer than average (about 3x as long as the original "chapters"), so I hope this makes up for the delay somewhat. OTL